With flair and compassion, the film shows us the buoyant
pre-war spirit that had begun to
unravel as people began to understand what was happening around them.

THE HARMONISTS

A Illusion review by Joan Ellis.

The Harmonists is a fascinating movie. Set in Berlin during the late 20s,
the story bristles with the playfulness of a culture very much like that of
New York during
the same period. The two cities sang and danced and
celebrated new talent until their abandon was snuffed out-in America by the
Depression, and in Germany by the Depression and the rise of anti-Semitism.

Based on a true story, the movie tells the tale of a 20-year-old student
baritone named Harry Frommermann (Ulrich Noethen), who forms a singing
group modeled after "The Revellers," an American a cappella group. Harry
fills his sextet from newspaper ads, arranges songs for five-part harmony,
and secures a date for
their public debut. The ebullient singers, mixing
humor with song, open to a wildly enthusiastic audience, go on tour, and
become one of the first singing groups to become a national sensation. It
is 1927.

For six years, the Harmonists enjoy their burgeoning success while playing
out individual domestic dramas on
the side. Life is good. Engulfed in
euphoria, they ignore the anti-Semitic signals they don't want to see. One
day they are summoned by the Reich Music Association "to discuss the
non-Aryans in your group." Three of the six are Jewish.

Staunch in the belief that their success will insulate them from the new
persecution, they visit the U.S., where they sing to the U.S. fleet
gathered in New York Harbor. They hear anti-Nazi catcalls, but cling to the
comfort of their lives in Berlin. Overruling Harry's argument that it is
dangerous to go home, the majority decides to return. They are immediately
condemned by the authorities under the Nuremburg laws of 1935 as
"inappropriate for the morals of
the German people." They are allowed one
final concert in Munich.

Dressed in their jaunty uniforms of white vests and red bow ties,
the
Harmonists sing to front rows flanked by Nazi flags and packed with Nazi
brass. Permission for brutality hangs in the air. The soldiers have been
anointed. The innocent joy of the Harmonists dissolves.

As the movie builds to the farewell concert and inevitable separation,
director Joseph Vilsmaier uses a masterful touch to create the poignancy of
naivete in the grim light of hindsight. Directing his fine German cast
as a happy band of innocents in an increasingly ominous time, he creates a
mood of nostalgia for the last playful moments before
the tragedy of World
War II.

Ulrich Noethen's Harry is the sweet-tempered anchor for the group. Noethen
and the supporting players, especially Ben Becker as Robert Biberti, jump
to life in a group portrait of the innovative singers who brought a new
sound to their country. By the mid-30s, destruction
of Germany's arts and
entertainment had become prelude to destruction of its people. With flair
and compassion, the film shows us the buoyant pre-war spirit that had begun
to unravel as people began to understand what was happening around them.